Sword Art Online: Framed
by VulporAnime
Summary: Kise, the Red Swordsman, has been framed for murdering Asuna even though Heathcliff was the one that did it. Kirito is being hunted down as a wanted criminal for attacking Heathcliff. Now the both of them must come together and end SAO for good before they're hunted down and killed (SAO AU that starts on the day the game should have ended. All resources and info are from SAO wiki)
1. Chapter 1: Betrayal

**A/N: Please do correct me If I make any chronological errors while writing this story. The SAO story line is quite complicated at times haha so follow, favorite or review. Constructive Criticism is welcome. :D Also This is an Alternate Universe so things happen that shouldn't have happened.**

* * *

**Betrayal**

Kise, the swordsman with short brown hair and a raggedy red cape, swung his sword back and forth as he walked up the hill that led out of town. It was, oddly enough, a bright and sunny day on November 7th, 2024, which made it a little more than 2 years since the death game, Sword Art Online, had started. Even after two years, no one had successfully beaten it either.

Kise plopped himself down on top of the hill as he sheathed his sword. He yawned a bit as he leaned on the tree that was sitting on top of the hill before closing his eyes halfway. From the bottom of the hill, Kise saw passing players look at him and whisper to each other. He always grimaced when he saw people like that, they never brought anything good besides random amounts of gossip. Kise assumed that these were passive players, not players that held their own on the front lines and died on the front lines. He frowned at the thought of all the people he had seen die right before his eyes and sighed.

Kise himself had been sucked into the game as well, along with his friend Midori who had died along the way. Everything involving SAO had started out fun and very relaxing, but things took a turn for the worst after the game master said that when you died in-game, you died in real life. That was the part that struck everyone as impossible. Some didn't believe it while others feared for the worst, but all in all everybody still had to play the game and no one was going come out alive until the game was beaten.

Kise drew himself back into reality from his day dream and sat up. He silently picked up a tuft of grass and watched it dissolve in his hand. Throughout Kise's entire 2 years in SAO, he had seen too many people dissolve in the exact same way and disappear forever. That included his friend Midori. He blinked once more at the thought of Midori dying before laying back down to think of something else. He lay there for a moment and closed his eyes, but was suddenly disturbed by the sound of a group of players running. Kise quickly sat up and looked to see what was going on. What Kise saw were a bunch of heavily armored players rushing toward town, most likely to the teleport gate.

"Hey!"called Kise as he scrambled to his feet and jogged down the hill toward the running men, "What's going on here?!"

"Heard something really important is going on at floor 75! All personal that are a part of the front lines are to report there," said one of the players as he stopped in front of Kise, who had reached the bottom of the hill, "That means you too, Red Swordsman. There's no time to waste. I heard that this is an emergency"

The man then turned and ran to catch up with his friends who were almost inside the town by then.

_I can't believe people still call me that, it's not that much of a big deal, _thought Kise as he pulled out his sword, _I mean the only difference between me and the black swordsman guy is that I'm a lefty. That doesn't mean people should go and start nicknaming me._

Kise sighed and quickly dashed in the direction of the other players in an attempt to catch up with them. Within a few minutes, Kise had caught up to the men who were waiting at the town square for some reason. As Kise walked through the town, people stepped aside as if they were afraid of him.

_Oh please, no need to act like I'm royalty_, thought Kise as he reached the town square where a man was waiting for him. The man wore dragon style armor, so Kise suspected he was a part of the Divine Dragon Alliance. As Kise approached, the man turned toward him and started to speak.

"Hello Red Swordsman, nice of you to finally join us on a mission for once," said the man in a curt tone as he held out his hand for a shake, "My name is Kazuo."

"Cut the shit," snapped Kise as he too recalled how little he ever participated in clearing floors even though he was part of the front lines, "What the hell is going on?"

"The team we sent to floor 75 hasn't returned yet," said Kazuo as he withdrew his hand and gave Kise an odd look, " A team was sent up earlier including leader of the Knight's of Blood Heathcliff, the Black Swordsman Kirito, and Asuna the Flash. They were designated to kill Floor 75's boss, The Skull Reaper."

"So what's the problem?"

"Well... word has it that one of the players has gone rogue and started to pk the others, but that's only a rumor. We really don't know what's going on up there. No one has tried contacting us and no one has returned."

"What do you mean?! That's impossible. There's always a way to communicate."

"Well apparently there's a way to block that now. So we're gathering a second team to go rescue them or find out what's going on."

"Shit, well what are we waiting for?"

"We need to organize a group of men first so we can-"

"I'm not working with a team, if that's what you're thinking."

"But that's-"

"No," said Kise as he drew his long sword, "I work alone. Just try to keep up."

And with that, Kise took out a teleportation stone and teleported to the entrance of the dungeon on floor 75. Kazuo was left slightly annoyed at how rash Kise was being. He sighed and turned to looked at the men that had gathered to go on the rescue mission.

"Well then, we're not gonna let him do all of the work!" said Kazuo as he pulled out his crystal as well,"Everyone teleport! We're going to go save them!"

* * *

"Kirito!" screamed Asuna as she struggled to move, but couldn't. Despite all the efforts she put in, the paralysis Heathcliff had put on her and the rest of the team were like shackles tying them to the ground. They were all trapped inside the boss room of the Skull Reaper. Asuna looked up to see Kirito hacking and slashing at Heathcliff. Kirito, who had both of his swords out and was slashing furiously, was in a duel with Heathcliff, who was simply blocking and dodging all of Kirito's attacks. As Asuna watched, she remembered what Heathcliff had said to everyone minutes before his duel with Kirito started.

_"I am Kayaba Akihiko, the game master, and creator of Sword Art Online. I am the boss of Floor 100."_

The thought of him being the game master enraged Asuna even further, but she still couldn't move. All she could do was watch and hope that someone would come for them or Kirito would win the duel. A few seconds passed of continuous slashing as everyone watched Kirito slash at Heathcliff. Kirito gritted his teeth as he backed up before charging back in at Heathcliff, who seemed satisfied that Kirito was continuing to fight, instead of giving up.

"You can still back out of it and live!" screamed Asuna as she struggled to move, but no one paid any attention to her, "We can always beat him on floor 100 Kirito!"

The slashing continued as Asuna was ignored again. She watched as Kirito's attacks sped up to an almost blinding rate while Heathcliff's blocks sped up as well.

_It's only a matter of time now until Kirito makes a mistake or gets tired, _thought Asuna as she forced herself, with all her strength, to sit up. Asuna breathed heavily as she sat up. Doing that alone had drained her, but she couldn't give up. She gave a glance up and saw Kirito being forced backwards again by Heathcliff. Asuna took this as an opportunity to attempt to stand up, but halway through standing up, Asuna saw Kirito make a mistake.

A huge cracking noise hit everyone's ears, making them gasp in fear and shock. Even Kirito was shocked at what had happened. One of Kirito's swords had broken under the force of Heathcliff's block. This was it, Heathcliff took this chance and raised his sword to strike down on Kirito who was still in shock, but Asuna was one step ahead of him.

Asuna quickly jumped in front of the blade as it slashed down on her, instead of Kirito. Heathcliff frowned as he watched his sword slice through Asuna instead of Kirito.

"Asuna!" yelled Kirito as Asuna felt the pain seep into her body as she collapsed onto the ground. Asuna looked up at Kirito and forced a smiled as she slowly started to dissolve from the fatal wound. Kirito quickly bent down and gingerly picked her up in his arms. Kirito looked on in horror as he watched Asuna slowly fade until she dissolved completely. Kirito's head sagged a bit once she had disappeared completely.

"A-Asuna..." mumbled Kirito as he picked up her rapier and wielded it along with his other sword. Kirito then took a step toward Heathcliff and raised his sword to strike down. Heathcliff grimaced before also stepping forward and plunging his sword into Kirito's chest. He then watched Kirito start to slump as he started to die, but something surprising happened. Something that Heathcliff had never seen before. Instead of starting to dissolve, Kirito looked up with bright yellow eyes filled with rage. Kirito raised Asuna's rapier lunged at Heathcliff with one last effort, but Heathcliff easily blocked the lunge and sent the rapier clattering to the floor.

Kirito, whose eyes were wide and filled with pain and anger, looked over at the rapier in shock that it had been knocked out of his hand.

"Hmph, how pitiful," said Heathcliff as he pulled out his sword and watched Kirito collapse onto the ground. Heathcliff raised his sword for the final blow, but a voice stopped him. Heathcliff looked over to where the voice had come from and he saw a young boy holding a long sword with his left hand. The boy had a red raggedy cape and standard dark black armor. The boy also had a red bandana on his neck.

"And who are you?" asked Heathcliff as he hesitated, his sword hung above Kirito's neck.

"Kise, the Red Swordsman" yelled Kise as he boldly advanced on Heathcliff while turning on his sword skill. In one smooth movement that was almost as fast as Kirito, Kise charged and slashed Heathcliff's sword out of his hand. Kise then took advantage of Heathcliff's shock and lunged with his sword, but Heathcliff had his immortality on so the sword just deflected off of his chest.

"Foolish boy," said Heathcliff as he took his shield and smashed it into Kise's face, throwing him across the room and skidding across the floor. Heathcliff then looked down at the dying Kirito who was grabbing onto his ankle in a last ditch effort to kill him somehow. Heathcliff sighed before he kicked Kirito in the face and frowned.

"You should have just listened to Asuna. But I'm going to be kind to you today and let you live, I'll let you live with the memory of your precious Asuna's death," said Heathcliff as looked at Kirito who struggled to get up.

"And as for you," said Heathcliff as he turned toward Kise, who had already stood up, "You were the one that killed Asuna. Why would you do that! Arriving to see if we're safe, then killing one of our own. You had this all planned out! You set the food to a stalled paralysis so that we would all become paralyzed after our fight with the boss."

"What?! What the hell are you-" began Kise but the sound of movement near the entrance cut him off. Kise turned to see that the rescue team had caught up to them.

"You see! Kise was behind it the entire time!" said Heathcliff as he pointed at Kise. Kise turned to look at Kazuo and the others, who all had their swords drawn and pointed at him. Kise then looked up at his marker, which had just turned from green to yellow to red, the symbol of a player killer.

"Is...is this really true Kise?!" asked Kazuo as he raised up his sword in an attack position, No. It has to be true. The marker says it all."

"No! It's not! I didn't do-"

"It was!" said Heathcliff, "He even wounded Kirito here. Who would you rather believe? The leader of the Knight's of Blood or some rogue solo player?!"

The entire rescue team mumbled amongst each other at those bold words from Heathcliff. Then at once they all looked at Kise who was backing away from them.

"Come on guys, don't do this!"

"I..I'm sorry Kise," said Kazuo, "But orders are orders. Men, attack!"

The group charged and Kise quickly charged in as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Kise saw Heathcliff open up his menu and push a button. Instantly teleporting Kirito and the rest of the people in paralysis away. This left just Kise and the rescue team that was trying to kill him.

_Damn't! That asshole's gone now,_ thought Kise as he parried three swords that lunged at him before ramming the nearest guy to the ground. Kise then dodged a few more strikes before setting out on a full sprint out of the room's entrance. Kise did manage to get out unscathed and because he was a higher level then the others, Kise out ran them

After a few minutes of running, Kise stopped to take a breather. He looked back at where he had come from and sighed.

"First Asuna gets killed, then Heathcliff is evil, and now I'm being hunted as a wanted criminal by everyone for being framed as Asuna's killer. Great."

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**A/N: Constructive Criticism is appreciated. Tell me your opinion on the story as well or predict what will happen next too.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Aftermath

**The Aftermath**

November 7th, 2024

Kayaba Akihiko sat up in his bed and slowly took off his NerveGear. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light and started looking around the room. It was a small room with wooden flooring and a cabinet next to the bed where he laid. On top of the cabinet was a lamp and some notebooks. Kayaba looked at the notebooks for a second before standing up and stretching. Being the admin of Sword Art Online, Kayaba could log in and out at will, unlike everyone else but that did not remove the fact that if he died inside the game, he would die in real life.

Kayabe finished his stretch and strolled out of the room. After the start of Sword Art Online, Kayaba was wanted as a criminal and murderer so he was forced to flee the public and seek refuge along with Koujiro Rinko, his partner and fellow scientist. They were currently residing in an underground facility that had been abandoned years ago. With a few months of preparation before the launch of SAO, Kayabe was able to get electricity running through the small facility.

As Kayabe walked into the makeshift kitchen of the facility, his mind started to wander to about what had happened in the game hours earlier. Kayabe himself had murdered a young girl, stabbed a boy through the stomach, and framed another boy to be the murderer. Kayabe chuckled to himself at the thought of what had happened, but he stopped mid laugh because something didn't feel quite right.

_Is this really the right thing to do?_ asked a small voice in his head as Kayabe sat down next to the kitchen table, _were my actions morally right? or wrong?_ Kayabe shook his head in frustration that his conscience was getting the way of his own enjoyment of the game.

"Of course this is the right thing to do. This is for my own entertainment, sort of like an experiment you could say. This could pave the way to even better MMORPG's that could be even deadlier!" said Kayabe to himself as his eyes grew wide at the realization of what he had just said, "Yes... that could work!... But first I must handle the situation with SAO."

Kayabe sat up straight in his chair and started to rub his temples together as he thought of ways to make the end to Sword Art Online even more entertaining and fun. Watching the players struggle to beat the game where their lives were on the line wasn't enough. Kayabe wanted more entertainment, but he didn't know how to do it.

"With that boy Kise on the run and Kirito captured along with the rest of the members in the team... That's all the best players captured. I would have no real challenge when the rest of the players reach floor 100. There's also my identity as Heathcliff to deal with... should I reveal myself and terrorize everyone? No. IT'd be more fun to surprise them one floor 95."

Kayabe sighed then stood up and went to get a glass of water. Thinking and talking to himself always made him thirsty especially when he was excited. As he watched the water fill up in his glass, he continued to think though. He thought about how it must feel like to constantly be in the game. He thought of how enjoyable it must be for the players to be playing the game all the time.

"Yes. That's it," he continued after drinking the water, "I'll let Kirito free and trap the others in one of the special dungeons I use for AI. Once Kirito is set free and recovered. He'll try to kill me and I'll let him take a stab at me. Then everyone will want to kill Kise and Kirito. Yes, this will be quite the enjoyable time.."

"What are you mumbling about to yourself again Kayaba?" said a voice as the door to the kitchen opened and a middle aged woman stepped in. She had dark black hair and wore the usual scientific attire of a lab coat.

"Oh, nothing Koujiro," said Kayaba as the excitement in his eyes faded and he glanced over at his partner who had just came in with bags of groceries, "And who said you could go shopping? You do realize that we're both wanted criminals."

"Correction, Kayaba," said Koujiro as she put the groceries on the counter top next to Kayaba, "You are a wanted criminal. I'm just a shady scientist that used to associate with you, according to police records. People don't suspect me of anything at the moment."

"Bah, but once you're found out to still be working with me. Then you'll be arrested" said Kayaba as he stood up again.

"I'm fully aware of that Kayaba"

"Alright, whatever Koujiro. I've had a long enough break. I need to go back in or people in game will suspect me of something."

"Alright," said Koujiro with a slight sigh, "Don't worry about me if I'm gone when you next wake up."

"Okay," said Kayaba as he stood up and walked back to the room with the NerveGear. Once he was there he sat on the bed and looked at the helmet.

_I want a challenge at the end of this game and I'll do whatever it takes to get what I want. This is my world, I make the decisions._

Kayaba look at the helmet one last time before putting it on and laying down.

"Link Start!"

* * *

November 10th, 2024.

Kise looked down the alley where he was standing with a dark cloak and hood over his head. Beyond the alley were the open streets where players wandered and strolled around. It had only been three days since Kise had seen Heathcliff frame him for the murder of Asuna. Kise swore under his breath as he recalled how Heathcliff had bluntly killed Asuna and stabbed Kirito before blaming it all on Kise.

The following day, after running from Kazuo and his team, Kise found out that an order was issued from the Knight's of Blood that he was to be killed on sight and was a danger to the community. There was also a cash reward to whoever brought him alive and killed him in front of Heathcliff.

"Tsk, how crazy can this guy get," muttered Kise to himself as he started to walk down a nearby alley, away from the main street. Since that order was issued, Kise decided to stay away from the main streets, sleep in dark secluded places, and where a cloak and hood everywhere. Not just the main warriors were after him though, the pk groups were also after him for the cash reward.

Since then, Kise had fended off multiple attempts at assassinations and attacks while travelling from town to town. That was why he couldn't reveal where he was in a town because people would follow him out of town, then attack him in an attempt to kill him. So far Kise hadn't killed anyone and he hoped he didn't have to.

As Kise walked down the alley, he noticed someone was following him. Kise decided to hold off attacking the person for a moment. After a few moments, Kise found turned a corner. The person following him hesitated, but quickly turned the corner as well, but was quickly slammed into the wall with a sword to their throat.

"Now, I know I can't kill you in this town because of the protection," snarled Kise, "But I can always drag you out of town and run you through with this here sword. So what do you want, who do you work for, and why are you following me!?"

The hooded figure, who seemed a lot smaller than Kise, seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking up.

"I'll tell you who I am once you put me down. You might also need some cash if you want information from me," said the hooded figure who had a girlish voice. Kise narrowed his eyes, but agreed to her request and set her down. He then sheathed his sword and waited.

The figure, who was rubbing her back, groaned in pain before lifting her hood revealing a very familiar face. It was a girl with painted red whiskers on her face and brown hair.

"Argo?!" said Kise in shock as he took a step back and drew his sword again, "Did someone pay you to track me? Where is the hunter now?! This is a trap sin't it! What are-"

"Shut the hell up Kise!" said Argo in an irritated tone, "I came to find you because I know of Kirito's whereabouts and I think he is the only one that can help you in your situation right now, but you still have to pay me. I don't sell information cheap."

"You never change do you Argo," snorted Kise as he gave her 200 col, the currency of SAO.

"That's not enough Kise, I'm expecting 2000 col this time if you don't want me revealing your position. Other people do pay me to sell information you know."

Kise's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as Argo said that, but he handed over 2000 col after a few moments because it was better to lose the money than be hunted down.

"Thank you very much," said Argo as she added the col he gave her to the thousands she had already saved up, "Now, on to the information on Kirito."

"Uhuh, go on," said Kise impatiently as he scanned the alley way for anybody to be listening.

"Well, from what I've heard. Kirito is in the boss's room on floor 76. Some players have said that instead of a reward in items, you get Kirito, the black swordsman. Even Heathcliff believes it, but the mysterious thing is. No one knows how he even got there."

"Oh I think I know how he got there," said Kise as he balled his hand into a fist, "and how long until the dungeon is cleared and the boss's room opens up?"

"I'd say a few days," said Argo with a shrug, "People are anxious to leave this game so the rate at which we clear floors is steadily increasing, Kise."

"Alright, thanks Argo," said Kise as he forced a smile at Argo, "But I have to be going now. I can't stay in one spot for long or people will start finding me."

Kise then gave a nod of goodbye to Argo before donning is hood again and starting to walk down yet another alley, but this time the alley led to the exit of town.

"Remember!" called Argo from where she stood, "You're still being hunted so don't do anything rash!"

"Alright!" replied Kise as he rounded a corner. Argo sighed and put on her hood again before turning around and coming face to face with Heathcliff.

"So have you told him the information I specified?" asked Heathcliff as he gazed down at Argo. Argo gave a sigh and nodded slightly.

"Good, I won't have to kill you now as long as you keep this a secret between the two of us. Do I make myself clear?"

Argo looked up at Heathcliff, her eyes were defiant. She was about to object to Heathcliff because she knew he was the game master. He told her everything, but threatened to kill her if she even spoke a word. So right when Argo was about to object, Heathcliff spoke up.

"I've also maxed out your account with col," said Heathcliff with a wry smile, "Will that suffice as payment besides the fact that I won't kill you?"

Argo closed her mouth and gulped. She opened her menu and found that the account said: 999999999 col. Argo opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Then she closed it before looking down at the ground. A silence fell on the two of them as Heathcliff expectantly waited for a reply, but instead of replying, Argo quickly spun around and made a break for it.

"Why you little-," began Heathcliff as he charged and rammed his shield into Argo with so much force that it drained half of her health instantly. He then bent down and picked up Argo's crippled body by the neck.

"You could have just kept quiet, but you refused," hissed Heathcliff as he raised his sword," It's a shame that so many people have to die just for my own entertainment, but if it's necessary than so be it."

With one swift motion Heathcliff ripped Argo's body in half with his sword, sending particles everywhere. He then dropped what remained of Argo's upper body onto the ground. Heathcliff stood and watched as Argo slowly dissolved, his face was filled with anger and some resentment.

"This is my world. I am god here. Defy me and you risk the consequences."

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**A/N: Constructive Criticism is appreciated. Tell me your opinion on the story as well or predict what will happen next too. Feedback is welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3: A Change of Plans

**A Change of Plans**

November 15th, 2024

Kise slashed through yet another Lizardman King with his sword and watched it collapse on the ground in front of him before dissolving. Kise looked up to see the amount of experience and col he had received.

It had been about four days since Kise had arrived at floor 76's dungeon. Upon his arrival at the dungeon though, he was warmly welcomed by waves of monsters that had threatened to kill him, but he successfully held them off and killed them all one by one. During those four days, Kise had only seen two other player groups that were focused on clearing the dungeon. Luckily, they didn't see him so he was in the clear to continue killing monsters throughout the dungeon.

Kise looked at his experience gain and sighed. Besides the fact that the monsters were getting increasingly difficult, he couldn't focus 100% on his fighting and training. He'd already made some mistakes while fighting that could've ended fatal since he was alone.

Those types of mistakes Kise absolutely could not make with his current situation, but he couldn't help himself. His mind kept wandering off to how, exactly, did Kirito get to Floor 76 without clearing the floor first. Kise assumed that Heathcliff had something to do with it, but he couldn't figure out the connection between Kirito's sudden appearance at Floor 76 to Heathcliff.

He shook his head in confusion and sat down to take a rest. He knew that the fatigue was getting to him since he hadn't left the dungeon since his arrival so he leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment.

As he sat there with his eyes closed, his mind started to wander. He thought about the day he was first framed. It was something Kise thought about a lot. It kept him going and reminded him of why he was doing what he was doing. As he dreamed, everything in the memory flowed smoothly, but something suddenly stuck out in his mind.

_That's it!_ thought Kise as he snapped his eyes open and sat up, _That has to be it! How could I have been so blind as to not realize it sooner! Heathcliff is the game master! That explains why he didn't take any damage when I struck at him. My sword just deflected off of his body and an immortal sign popped up. That also explains why Kirito is on floor 76. Heathcliff purposely moved him there! Then that means-_

A sudden earsplitting screech hit Kise's ears, making him curl over in pain and breaking is train of thought.

"Ahh! What the fuck was that?!" asked Kise to himself as he struggled to sit up, his ears still ringing. As Kise continued trying to sit up, he heard footsteps and screaming coming from the end of the hallway. Kise looked up and squinted down the hallway. He could vaguely make out the silhouettes of a few players running towards him.

"Run!" the players screamed as they sprinted toward Kise. Kise noticed one of them trip and fall, the other looked back and went to help him, but something reached out of the shadows and grabbed the player's ankle.

"No!" screamed the player on the ground as he was dragged into the darkness. The other player backed up a few steps before turning to run again, but he was slashed in the back by a huge scythe-like arm that whipped out of the shadows. The man collapsed on the ground and looked up at Kise with fear in his eyes.

Kise quickly dashed to his feet and sprinted toward the man just as another scythe arm slashed out of the darkness, stabbed him in the calf, and started to drag him into the shadows. The man screamed the entire time and clawed at the ground in a desperate attempt to get away.

"Oh no you don't!" screamed Kise as he dove onto the ground, grabbed the man's arm with his right hand, and swung with all his might at the arm with his sword. Another high pitched scream hit Kise's ears as he heard a thud, then everything went silent.

After a few moments of silence, Kise looks up at where the scythe arm should have beeb, but he just found a dissolving limb with a slash mark where he had cut it off. Kise then looked down at the player who was still shivering from the whole experience. Kise sighed a sigh of relief before standing up and reaching out his hand to the man.

"Come on, get up," said Kise as he observed the man's armor and facial features, which seemed vaguely familiar. Kise blinked as the man finally took his hand and as he pulled the player up, he saw his face. In a blur of movement, Kise slammed the man against the wall and placed his sword to the man's throat.

"Kazuo," hissed Kise as he pressed the blade closer to his throat, "What the fuck are you doing here?!"

Bead's of sweat dripped down Kazuo's forehead as Kise pressed the blade harder on his throat. Kazuo cold feel the cold medal press against his skin and it made it hard to swallow, but he finally managed to speak up.

"Heh, didn't expect to find you here," began Kazuo as a bead of sweat dripped onto the blade, "You know why I'm here Kise. I'm on the front lines. My team and I were sent here to help clear the dungeon."

Kise narrowed his eyes and gave a nod of satisfaction, but didn't loosen his grip on the sword or Kazuo. Kazuo forced a smile and tried to speak again, but he was cut off by Kise.

"And what exactly was that thing that grabbed your partner there?"

"I...I.. The only thing I know is that it's almost reptile like. What happened was that my partner and I were about to exit the dungeon along with another party and suddenly the dungeon's entrance sealed shut and this high pitched noise was heard. When we all looked in the direction of the scream...that's when all hell broke lose. The monster was so fast we couldn't even hit it. It immediately took down the other team so my friend and I made a break for it and that led up to meeting with you."

"And you have no intentions to kill me?!"

"Not while we're both stuck here," replied Kazuo as he tried to laugh, but was abruptly dropped onto the ground by Kise, "Oww. Watch it will you? Also don't think this changes anything. I'm still going to capture you once we're done here."

Kise glared and Kazuo and shrugged before walking up to him and kicking him in the face and pointing the tip of his sword at Kazuo's throat.

"Look. If you want to make it out alive then we have to work together without you trying to kill me or I'll just kill you first and end it. I'm sick of this whole chasing Kise shit so get your act together so we can kill this monster. I'm not sure why something so bizarre and strong is wandering this dungeon, but I have a feeling I know whose-"

A high pitched noise echoed through the hallway again, but it seemed farther away. Kise instantly raised his sword in a defensive stance out of reflex while Kazuo scrambled to his feet and drew his sword as well. The two stood there in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the monster to just jump out onto them, but nothing came and finally they lowered their weapons.

"So now what? We're stuck in this dungeon with no known way out along with a few other parties and there's also an extremely dangerous monster that could be lurking around any corner," said Kazuo as he leaned on the wall and breathed a sigh.

"We find whatever is in this god-for-saken dungeon and kill it before it kills anyone else," replied Kise curtly as he started to walk down the hallway and into the darkness, "Are you coming or not?"

"Err yes! It's better to stay in a group!" said Kazuo as he jogged over to Kise.

"You know Kazuo, you seem to act all tough in front of the other front line men, but you're not doing such a great job in front of me," said Kise as he turned a corner.

"Well this is something I've never faced before, even as a beta-tester I haven't seen anything that looks or acts like this," replied Kazuo with a slight shrug and a frown, "Were you a beta-tester Kise? You seem to be very good at soloing."

"No, I'm just good at MMORPG's. I'm nothing special to the point where I win awards or anything though," replied Kise as he turned another corner. As soon as they turned the corner, however, another noise echoed down the dungeon walls and hit Kise and Kazuo, but this time the voice of someone calling for help came along with it.

"Kazuo, with me! We're going to kill this thing before it kills whoever it's attacking," yelled Kise as he drew his sword and ran down the hallway towawrd the source of the noise.

* * *

Heathcliff stood on the hill overlooking the entrance to the dungeon of floor 76. He had been standing there for at least a half hour now and showed no signs of moving. It may have looked as if he wasn't doing anything, but in reality is mind was racing with possibilities of what could be going on inside the dungeon because he had been the one to open the admin controls, lock the dungeon, and set loose a monster that was so dangerous and deadly that it was considered unfair during the beta stages and was ultimately banned from the game.

Heathcliff, on his own accord, had personally released one of these creatures to wreck havoc among the dungeon of floor 76. He smiled to himself at the thought of the monster ripping the players to shreds. The monster was even aggressive enough to attack other monsters that inhabited the dungeon.

_Yes, this will finally prove who is the strongest,_ thought Heathcliff to himself, _After this test run to see the performance of the monster. I will eventually release a whole swarm of them on floor 78 where they will slowly make their way down the ranks of players. The strong will come out victorious and come to challenge me while the weak will perish under the swarm. But first I must set up how Kirito will be accused of assaulting me._

Heathcliff then gave one last look at the locked dungeon before opening up his menu and teleporting to the special dungeon where he kept the clearer's from floor 75. Heathcliff looked around the small room filled with people and smiled maliciously before starting to pace around the room.

Heathcliff had set a semi-permanent paralysis on the players where the more they moved, the stronger the paralysis got so resistance was very minimal besides two people in the back. Heathcliff walked up to them and frowned. Before him sat Agil and Klein. Both were close friends of Kirito and had great spirit in trying to escape.

"Agil and Klein. Why do you insist on struggling if you know the paralysis will only get worse?"

"Because you're becoming insane! First trapping us all here and now becoming the final boss?! That's completely insane!" yelled Klein defiantly. Heathcliff gazed at Klein for a moment and shrugged before looking over at Kirito.

"Kirito, do you still miss Asuna?" asked Heathcliff as he sneered at him, "You do know it was your fault sh-"

"Stop it!" yelled Agil as he joined in with Klein at yelling at Heathcliff, "He's just a boy. Stop it and man up Kayaba!"

Heathcliff stared at Agil for a moment before shrugging and grabbing Kirito by the arm and shoving him to his feet. Kirito made no objections to Heathcliff's harshness. It seemed as if when Asuna died, he had died along with her.

"W-where are you taking him?!" asked Agil as he glared at Heathcliff. Klein stopped struggling to kick Heathcliff as well to look up and wait for a response.

"Oh. Your friend will be fine if he's strong enough. If he isn't well then that's just too bad," said Heathcliff as he shoved Kirito to start walking. Klein and Agil watched as Heathcliff led Kirito toward the exit. Kirito made no effort to resist, leaving Klein, Agil, and the rest of the clearers to watch helplessly as their strongest member was taken away from them.

* * *

**A/N:**** Constructive Criticism is appreciated. Tell me your opinion on the story as well or predict what will happen next too.**


	4. Chapter 4: Manipulated

**A/N: Sorry about this chapter being so short. I haven't had a lot of time lately and I felt that this chapter, nothing hugely important would happen.**

* * *

**Manipulated**

Kise jumped clear of of the monster as it thrashed out at him, nearly ripping his arm to shreds. To his right, Kazuo had just taken a blow to the leg and was limping backwards along with the man they had saved who was being attacked by the creature. Kise glanced at the creature one more time as he was forced to step back again due to the creature's aggressiveness.

What he was fighting, was something he had never seen before. It had scythe-like arms and reptilian like skin along with it being so fast that even Kise could barely keep up with it. It's body was close to the ground as well and when it moved, it resembled an Alien from the movie: Alien vs Predator.

Kise pondered on that movie for a second in awe that the alien from that movie might have been used as a base for this specific monster, but he quickly got rid of the thought and re-focused on the fight that they were somehow losing.

The monster was approaching them fast and was getting increasingly aggressive. No matter how many times Kise slashed and hacked at its body, it didn't seem to feel the pain.

"This thing isn't dying!" said Kazuo as he limped back farther," Any bright ideas on killing it?"

"Chop the head off? I don't kn-aagh!" said Kise as the creature landed a blow on his right arm, cutting it clean to his bone, "Fuck! I can't keep this up. This monster is moving at speeds where I'm starting to have trouble keeping up!"

"Shit... so what are we going to do?"

"I don't-"

The monster let out another earsplitting scream and pounced on Kazuo with it's scythe-arms piercing his two shoulders.

"AAgh!" screamed Kazuo as he collapsed on the ground and struggled to kick the monster away. Kise quickly took this as an opportunity and kicked the monster. He then charged in and impaled the monster with his sword causing it to squeal in pain.

"Move Kazuo! I can't ho-" started Kise, but he was cut off by the creature biting into his arm, making scream and let go of the sword, "Fuck you just don't die!"

Kise backed up as the monster struggled to free itself of his sword. Behind Kise were Kazuo, who was trying to stand up, and the man they had rescued.

"Now what?" groaned Kazuo as he stood up and leaned on the wall while panting heavily, "This thing has been impaled by your sword through where it's heard should've been. Why isn't it dead?!"

"I don't... I don't know," replied Kise as he gave a glance at Kazuo. Kise did have one way he could kill the monster, but he didn't want to use it. It involved him revealing the one thing that made him so strong. It was a special skill that he had acquired after killing that dragon ages ago. Inferno Assault was what it was called. Upon activating the sword skill, Kise's sword would radiate heat that would be almost unbearable and would also be able to cut through most anything.

Kise refrained from using it though because of the immense power it emitted during use and also because it drained his stamina at an insane rate.

Kise gritted his teeth as he thought of the consequences of using the ability. In the case that he did use it, he could easily kill the monster, but it would drain him of his energy making him vulnerable to capture since he still didn't trust Kazuo.

"Kise? What are you doing standing there thinking?!" said Kazuo as he pointed at the monster, "It's getting itself free from your sword!"

Kise broke from his thought process to look up at the monster as it struggled to get free. It had already clawed it's body over halfway out of the sword in the time Kise had spent thinking.

"Alright," said Kise as he opened up his inventory and drew out another long sword, "Get ready. We're going to attack it when it- shit!"

The monster had gotten free from the sword as he was speaking. As it's body lurched onto the ground, the monster squealed in rage. When it stood up, the area where the hole from Kise's sword was quickly regenerating pixels at an insane rate. Kise gulped and held up his sword in a defensive position.

The monster blinked as it glared at Kise and in one step it lunged at Kise with near lightning speed. Upon reflex Kise dodged to the right and the monster narrowly missed Kise, but instead landed on Kazuo.

"Ahh! Holy shit!" screamed Kazuo as the monster's arms pierced him again. The monster let out a high pitched scream as it dug it's arms deeper in Kazuo, whose screams were becoming weaker. Kise took this as a chance to cut off the monster's head. He didn't want to use his special skill just yet though.

In one swift motion, Kise raised his sword and hacked down at the monster, cutting it's head clean off. Kise then kicked the monster's body aside before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

The monster's head landed onto the ground and rolled up to Kise's feet. Kise picked up the head and threw it at the monster's body before helping Kazuo stand up.

"You.. you alright?" asked Kise as then he turned to the man the two of them had saved.

"Y-y-yes," said the man as he stood up. His body was dripping with sweat even though he didn't do any fighting. Kise looked at the man and judged that he would live so he shrugged and went over to talk to Kazuo.

"Well we got it?" said Kazuo with a shrug once Kise had walked up to him, "But why isn't it..umm... Dissolving?"

"Maybe because it's not meant to be in the game," said Kise with a frown, "Anyways. We have to get moving. I have a feeling that this thing isn't really dead just yet."

"Alright. Let's get going," said Kise after a moment of silence and he turned to walk down the hallway. Kazuo frowned at the body of the monster before shrugging and turning to follow Kise and the player they had rescued.

Behind them, the monster's body began to twitch.

* * *

"So do you want Asuna back or not?" asked Heathcliff as he stood in front of the angered Kirito. Since Heathcliff had taken Kirito out of the room, he had shown no resistance at all. It was surprising and amusing to Heathcliff how the death of someone you cared about could shatter your personality.

Heathcliff smiled as he though about how depressed Kirito was until he mentioned how he could "bring back" Asuna. His eyes then lit up and he demanded an explanation. Heathcliff then lied and went on saying that he had only trapped the dead players and that they weren't actually dead.

Kirito's conscience and thinking process were slow and retarded because of his grief and how desperate he was to see Asuna. It was so bad that Kirito didn't even realized that Heathcliff was plainly lying.

"Bring her back!" yelled Kirito suddenly, which jolted Heathcliff out of his though process. Heathcliff looked down to see Kirito glaring at Heathcliff with cold and dark eyes. This just continued to excite Heathcliff.

"Now now Kirito," said Heathcliff, "I'll only bring your precious Asuna back if you do something for me."

Kirito paused for a moment and blinked, but made no response.

"Furthermore, to show my trust in you. I will drop my weapons and unshackle you. You do have your weapons by the way."

Heathcliff then undid Kirito's paralysis and dropped his weapons on the ground. Kirito warily eyed Heathcliff as he drew his sword and pointed it at Heathcliff.

"You can kill me now if you want," continued Heathcliff, "I know you want too, but that wouldn't go well, now would it? I mean you do want to see Asuna again right?"

Kirito clenched his teeth after Heathcliff finished his sentence, but he slowly sheathed his sword. He then crossed his arms and waited for Heathcliff to start talking.

"Now then, Kirito, I need you to kill someone," said Heathcliff with a malicious smile.

* * *

**A/N: ****Constructive Criticism is appreciated. Tell me your opinion on the story as well or predict what will happen next too.**


End file.
